A Cashier Stole A Bunch Of Credit Card Numbers Using Only His Photographic Memory And I Think He Should Be Allowed To Keep Everything He Stole
CNN- A store cashier in Tokyo been arrested on allegations of stealing the credit card information of 1,300 customers using just one tool — his memory. The part-time worker was arrested Thursday for stealing credit card details to buy $2,600 (270,000 Japanese yen) worth of bags from online shopping sites last March, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
A police source familiar with the investigation told CNN that the man, who worked at a shopping mall in Koto ward, had allegedly memorized customers’ credit card information while processing their orders — then recalled the credit card details later to shop online. The suspect has a photographic memory and police have found a notebook with card details listed in it, said the source working on the investigation.
Look I hate thieves, crooks, pickpockets, and all sorts of swindlers. However, I have no choice but to tip my hat to this Japanese trickster for using his God given talent to make a living. What’s the difference between this guy using his noodle to remember a bunch of credit card numbers and Peter North using his howitzer to make sticky cinematic magic? Okay, I suppose a little thing called the “law” is the difference (not very much emphasis on those quotes since this is a prettttttty clear violation of the law).
Still, at the end of the day you gotta respect someone with the brain power to pull off something like that, right? Sure you would feel a little violated once you realized that extra charge at Amazon wasn’t made by you, if you even realized it because who remembers every Amazon purchase. But once you were told by your credit card company that this guy was able to remember your card’s 16 numbers, expiration date, and 3 numbers in the back that are somehow now just as important as the numbers and date in the front by looking at it for 2 seconds, you would probably be more impressed that the guy did it than upset that he stole from you. Like I wouldn’t be thrilled to find out that my lawyer Frank Abagnale Jr. was just a silver-tongued crook after he operated on me. But as long as he honestly tried to win my case, I would feel honored to be in the presence and bamboozled by a Hall of Fame crook.
UPDATE: Before I hit publish on the blog, I realized that this guy bought $2,600 WORTH of bags instead of $2,600 bags he could sell. So now part of me is annoyed that this guy used all that brainpower to steal only 2 bucks from 1300 different people while the other part of me thinks he could have just made that money by having a kiosk in his store and charging people to see his photographic memory at work like a carnival sideshow. Because I would pay $20 for someone to do stuff like this in real life since it’s the closest thing we have to real life superpowers.